Mundine edges Medley

By Ray Wheatley–World of Boxing

Former WBA 168 pound champion Anthony Mundine (38-3, 23 KOs) scored a decision win over Robert Medley (27-3, 17 KOs) in a twelve round bout Friday at the Entertainment Center, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Mundine was the aggressor in most of the rounds but it was Medley who hurt the three time world champion in rounds five, ten and twelve with power right hands.Medley showed he is world class at 160 pounds as he continually boxed Mundine on even terms.He was not hurt at any point during the fight and continually smiled at his opponent. At the conclusion scores were Trevor Christian 117-112, Gary Dean 117-115 and Bernie McMahon 117-113. Mundine said, “Medley was ready–he had great preparation. I have had no KO’s for a while but I tried too hard for the knockout. I find it hard to get up for these fights. I have not got the eye of the tiger, but I am still the best.”

In the main supporting bout for the Australian Contender super middleweight title Garth Wood (7-1, 3 KOs) scored a split decision over Kariz Kariuki (21-7-2, 18 KOs) in an untidy bout over seven rounds. Wood boxed aggressively and connected with solid right hands and left hooks that had the Kenyan born boxer on unsteady legs. Wood suffered a cut eye in round two and doctor Alex Lewis inspected but ruled okay to continue in round five. At the conclusion scores were Trevor Christian 68-65 and Bernie McMahon 68-66 (Wood) and Brian McMahon 68-66 (Kariuki). Wood won AUD $25,000 and is now scheduled to meet Anthony Mundine for a purse of AUD $250,000.WBO rated 168 pounder Kariuki went into the fight a hot favorite but could not get un-tracked and boxed below form. Former South Sydney rugby league footballer Wood who has never boxed a main event but had beaten highly regarded Russian Victor Oganov on the way to the final and is trained by Billy Hussein.

In Australian Contender super middleweight grudge bout Junior Talipeau (14-1-1, 5 KOs) dropped Nader Hamdan (42-7-1, 18 KOs) early in round one with a crisp right hand to the jaw and shortly after an accidental head clash inflicted a cut over Hamdan’s right eye. Doctor Alex Lewis inspected the cut and ruled it to severe to continue. Time 1:03. Talipeau holds the Australian middleweight crown. Hamdan has boxed the best middleweights in the world including Sam Soliman, Arthur Abraham and Anthony Mundine who he lost to over twelve rounds in 2009. Talipeau is trained and managed by Al Sykes.

Middleweight Peter Mitrevski Jr (22-6-1, 10 KOs) clearly outscored Jakkirt Suwunnalirt (15-14-1, 6 KOs) of Thailand over six rounds. The import came to fight but was outworked by Mitrevski who scored often with left jabs, left hooks and left rips to the body. At the conclusion scores were Trevor Christian 60-54, John Gauchi 60-54, Bernie McMahon 60-54. Former two time WBC light heavyweight champion Jeff Harding was in Mitrevski’s corner along with Johnny Lewis and Peter Mitrevski Sr. Mitrevski has been in action with current IBF middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester and is the chief sparring partner to Anthony Mundine. Mitrevski said. “I want to fight at junior middleweight – I do not want anymore imports – I want to fight Australians. I will fight any junior middleweights or middleweights.”

Super middleweight Peter Kazzi (12-1-1, 6 KOs) and Chokchana Sithkrupon (5-4-2, 3 KOs) of Thailand clashed heads in round one and the import suffered a cut over the left eye. Doctor Lou Lewis inspected the cut and ruled it to severe to continue. Time 1:55.

Aboriginal middleweight Renold Quinlan (1-0) connected with a power right cross in round two that dropped Mick Porter (3-3) and the corner of the Newcastle boxer signaled to referee Gary Dean they did not want to continue. Time 1:49. Quinlan’s trainer is Terry Lewis.

Heavyweight Rugby league footballer Carl Webb (0-1) 260 lbs was stopped in round three by Scott Lewis (2-3) 228 lbs of a scheduled four round contest. Webb was the aggressor and dominated round one. At the end of round two Webb was hurt at the bell by a solid right hand. In round three Webb was out on his feet when referee John Gauchi gave him a standing eight count and shortly after the referee crowned Lewis the winner at 2:59. Webb has represented Queensland and Australia in Rugby League football. As an amateur boxer he had six fights for six wins and holds a win over current WBO rated heavyweight Alex Leapai.